


for now we are young, let us lay in the sun, and count every beautiful thing we can see

by neckwear



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Young!Royai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neckwear/pseuds/neckwear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>he arrives when she's 15 going on 16, fresh faced and full of opportunity, all the way from central. riza had never met a city boy before, and watched him that first day with curiosity as he tried vehemently to win over her father and become his apprentice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sorry it takes me ten years to write fics!
> 
> i've just recently gotten into Fullmetal Alchemist and these two kill me, so i felt i had to write something. young!royai is how i live and breathe so it seemed appropriate.
> 
> this fic is super clunky but i'm done tinkering with it. i hope you enjoy!

**i.**

riza watches him while he studies, which he does dutifully, and it becomes a routine, her sweeping and trying to peek in through the crack of her father's library-slash-office. 

_what a strange boy papa's taken in,_ she thinks to herself. 

he arrives when she's 15 going on 16, fresh faced and full of opportunity, all the way from central. riza had never met a city boy before, and watched him that first day with curiosity as he tried vehemently to win over her father and become his apprentice.

on occasion, when she's cleaning, her father has the door to the library wide open, and she can hear his voice better while he lectures. she picks something up from the floor and when she stands back up the boy is looking at her, and then flushes when he sees that she caught his eye.

_maybe not strange. just shy._

the one thing riza does notice about him (who introduced himself as roy mustang, and riza wonders if he created the surname) is that he's incredibly studious - her father caught attention of this as well and rewards him with more alchemy, more chemical equations and laws that riza can't crack. at the kitchen table while riza makes dinner, when berthold decides to join them, he gives roy a pop quiz, and it makes riza's head swim - while she's always been scholarly in english and history, roy buries himself in science, and she can never quite understand it. 

on the days riza doesn't have school, she often finds roy sitting at the table or in his bedroom studying, books in an array around him as he writes furiously in his notebook. when he catches her glancing at his books while he reads, he tries to explain alchemy to her, but to no avail. 

however, when she comes from from class with new material and textbooks to read, she finds herself drawn next to him - perhaps his fervent studying will rub off on her, make her more intelligent. 

they don't talk during these study sessions. they seem almost reverent, as if any words will spoil the air. the silence is agreed on, though, and the two of them don't mind it.

 _he's not so strange,_ riza thinks, when she sneaks a look at him lying on his stomach and reading about complicated alchemy principles. _not at all._

**ii.**

a few months after their study sessions begin, roy shows up just a block away from riza's school just as it lets out. 

the sight of him standing next to the bookshop surprises her; what surprises her even more is how easily her schoolmates, the ones who have been boy crazy ever since they were thirteen, flock to him like sheep. of course, it shouldn't shock her - it isn't like he's unattractive, and having a boy who hasn't grown up with them is a welcome thing to the girls in her class. 

riza pulls herself out of her trance and makes her way to where he is, all the other girls adjusting so she can be right in his line of sight. 

"your father told me to come pick you up from school," he tells her.

what a lie, she thinks.

but instead of saying so, she nods and joins his side, clutching her books close to her chest as they start home.

soon he shows up every day after school, and each time he starts a conversation with one of her classmates, but riza notices that when he sees her walk out the doors, he becomes distracted by her. riza, despite herself, has to look away to hide the blush on her cheeks.

her friends end up teasing her, and one is even in despair that riza has been handed someone like roy while she has to work for it. riza assures them it's not as perfect an arrangement as they think. they're quick to say they'll take him off her hands and she feels something like jealousy in the pit of her stomach for no good reason. 

"it's not like that," riza tells them, and then tells herself, but each time he looks at her while they walk home from school and make idle conversation, she has to swallow down the fluttering in her chest, even though she is adamant that there is absolutely nothing going on between her and roy mustang.

**iii.**

in the months after he walks her home from school, the two of them become closer. riza has never been very good at making close friends but roy is all too friendly with her, a consequence of coming from a huge, open family. he helps her open up more as a result, her true personality coming to light; a dry sense of humor, incredibly earnest, and kinder than she seems. he makes her laugh once, a light, sing-song sound, and roy finds himself developing a crush on master hawkeye's daughter. 

roy has been studying with her father for nearly a year when riza suggests going on a picnic. she says it's good for the mind to go outside in fresh air and learn. she packs a basket full of sandwiches and he carries the blanket and books and the two of them walk to a clearing near a pond, roy following behind riza dutifully, and they set up their picnic underneath a tree. 

they don't really go to study. instead, they pretend to read their books but they really talk and back and forth jokes to each other, the type of conversation usually kept out of her home. eventually, riza mentions that he should probably get back to work. her father, even if he doesn't admit it, sees roy as his star pupil, as his other potential apprentices always left after realizing they got more than they had bargained for. not roy - he had stayed longer than projected, and he soaked up knowledge like a sponge.

roy tells riza that he already gets the concept, and starts naming off elements and things like covalency and bonding and immediately riza is lost. he begins to babble about intricate concepts, and riza is only sure of one way of how to get him to stop without him looking absolutely downtrodden, and it's something she's wanted to do for a while. 

in a moment of impulsiveness, riza leans forward while he's still chattering and kisses him.

roy's eyes widen instantly, and he doesn't kiss her back immediately out of shock. after a few seconds, he closes his eyes and returns the favor. he's dreamt of this moment ever since he can remember, but always imagined it differently, with him initiating the kiss instead of her. one thing that's true, though, is the softness of her lips and how he hates it when she pulls away.

riza doesn't blush when she looks at him, but his cheeks are hot and a deep shade of red when she smiles, almost sheepishly, at him. "i didn't know how else to get you to stop talking."

something bubbles up in his chest, and he moves forward to kiss her again, and again, and again.

**iv.**

because the two of them can't risk being seen by anyone in her town (who, honestly, already suspect something between them), roy and riza have to sneak in their affection where they can. 

more often than not, riza will grab him by his shirt and kiss him under the stairs, treasuring the moment before they have to part, in case her father catches the two of them. riza will act as if nothing has happened once she's walked away, but roy stays in a daze. he only snaps out of it when he shakes his head and forces himself to get on with what he had been doing. 

berthold hardly ever ventures out of his study, and instead he leaves riza and roy to their own devices. while riza cooks a meal, roy comes into the kitchen and peers over her shoulder at the food a little too closely. she thinks she catches a whiff of aftershave from time to time, and wonders who taught him to shave. when she passes him his plate at the table, he reaches up to grab it and intentionally touches his fingers against hers. 

he meets her at school to walk her home, and they act as if nothing has changed and roy still talks to her friends and lets them flirt with him, but he never bites. when they get far enough away to where they can't be seen, roy offers to carry her books and riza will reach down and slip her hand in his. they separate when they get close to home but her hand in his for just a few minutes makes the hiding worth it. 

the two of them know this can't last. after he learns all he needs from her father, he'll leave, going back to central with his aunt and various sisters he told her all about while they laid in bed together, his arm under her neck. he became a constant in her life and to think of him going away for good, leaving her alone in the vast family manor with just her father as her company, is something she can't fathom. so instead, they cherish what time they have. 

after roy goes to central to visit his family around the holidays in wintertime, he comes back with the spring, and riza greets him by opening the door. he gives her a boyish smile before reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out a small box, almost shoving it towards her with a blush spreading across his nose and cheeks. riza gives him a surprised look but takes the box from him. she isn't used to gifts and when she opens the box, is relieved that it's something as simple as silver studs. 

"my sister, vanessa, she said girls like jewelry, and i noticed you had your ears pierced, so..." he trails off, and when riza looks up he is completely red and looking at his feet. something about it makes her heart swell, and she smiles and leans forward to kiss his cheek, which makes him lift his head, startled.

she tells him she loves them and he grins, and riza thinks to herself that the nervous excitement deep in her stomach is love.

**v.**

berthold tells roy he isn't ready to learn flame alchemy when he tells him he's joining the military. 

riza overhears the conversation from her room. her father has never yelled but it was the first time she had ever heard him raise his voice to talk over roy. she tries to keep herself from listening but she can't help it, and one phrase sticks out in her mind. 

"if, perhaps, you come to your senses, i may teach you flame alchemy. but now, you have no right to my research."

it goes silent from then on, and she hears roy's footsteps as he goes back to his room. 

riza accompanies roy to the train station on the day he leaves. the train arrives on time, and riza feels her heart drop when it stops in front of them. she tries to take solace in the smell of the morning dew and sunshine, but it doesn't help.

they had never talked about it, but they both know riza won't wait for him. she had friends or knew people in town already engaged to soldiers, and she knew she would never do that, that she would to get on her life if she ever fell for a soldier. and he doesn't expect any different. 

"you don't want to be late, do you?" she asks, when roy doesn't stand up from the bench. she stands herself, and when she does he follows. he starts to walk towards the train but stops, turning to look at her. 

riza raises her eyebrow. "you'll miss the train," she says, confused, watching him carefully. he sets his suitcase down then, and closes the gap between them when he takes her chin in his hand to lift her head up and kiss her.

he's grown an inch or two, she realizes, because she has to lean up farther than usual. his thumb ends up brushing down her cheek when she deepens the kiss and she sighs, her eyes still closed when he lets go. 

when she opens them, he hasn't taken his hand from her cheek, and is looking right at her. riza feels herself flush. "i'll write, if i can," he tells her, his gaze intent. 

she nods, and dares to put a hand on his chest. "get on the train now. it'll leave without you."

he sneaks another kiss before she pushes him gently towards the train, giving her a grin before grabbing his suitcase finally boarding. he peeks his head out of the window next to his seat on the train and waves, and riza finds herself smiling and waves back. 

roy dips his head back in the window and riza watches as the train disappears in the distance. she doesn't feel heartbroken, instead she keeps smiling, and finds herself standing at the platform even after the train has vanished from view. 

it starts to get chilly out, and riza crosses her arms around herself, turns around, and starts back home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riza doesn't expect Roy to ever come back from military academy. The goodbye had felt so final, she truly thought it was the last time she would ever see him in person as he boarded the train early in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i say it once or twice in the fic, but I want to make it very clear that in this timeline, Riza is probably 18ish (she joins the military very soon after) and Roy is 21 (maybe its different but im too lazy to check on timelines) I'm only saying this because of the ~sexual themes in this chapter. Enjoy!

**i.**

Riza doesn't expect Roy to ever come back from military academy. The goodbye had felt so final, she truly thought it was the last time she would ever see him in person as he boarded the train early in the morning. 

She hears someone knock at the door while she makes soup for her father. His health had been deteriorating, not long after Roy had left. In fact, it was after he figured out the secret to flame alchemy that he had become complacent, letting the world go by day after day after he tattooed her back with his life's work. Riza was left to pick up the pieces, and the only reason the old manor is still standing is because of her efforts. 

She places her ladle down and walks towards the door, calling for the person to hold on. when she opens the door, she is wiping her hand on her apron, looking down. "Sorry for the wait --"

Riza is cut short when she glances up and sees Roy standing in front of her. 

Her first instinct isn't to run into his arms, or kiss him, or start to cry - instead, she gives him a glare. He had ceased contact with her about a year before - his letters stopped coming, and he had never called. There's only one reason for him to be back, a glaring, obvious one, but she questions him nonetheless. "What are you doing here?"

Roy hangs his head slightly, he looks like a dog that has disobeyed his master, totally apologetic and submissive. "I've graduated."

Riza nods. He is twenty one now, she is eighteen. He is a grown man and she notices how he fills out his crisp military uniform nicely. She's never seen him in anything so expensive-looking. He may have been more well off than she was (really, anyone was, being the daughter of an alchemist who refuses to work for the State guarantees a poor life) but he never wore anything so intricately crafted, and never so blue. 

"So you're visiting?" she asks. She doesn't let him in the house just yet. 

"Among other things," is his cryptic answer, and Riza knows what he wants. Her father had refused to let Roy even consider learning flame alchemy, an art so close to his heart. Even if they are a secluded family, rumors spread fast, they had probably been found out when Berthold tested his newfound alchemy by successfully burning up a bush during the night. 

Riza relents. "Father is asleep, but he should be up any minute," she tells him, and steps aside to let him in. She closes the door after him, and he is polite, asking if he may take off his coat before going any further. Riza takes his coat, and Roy doesn't move until she says it's okay - he knows he is treading dangerous territory, appearing after years of being gone. 

"How have you been?" he asks, glancing down at her. He sounds sincere, and Riza finally notices that his voice has dropped. It is rich and deep now, he sounds and looks like a man and Riza is surprised at just how much she's missed. 

She is still irritated with him, but she answers to be courteous. "Alright. Father has gotten terribly sick, though..."

A concerned look comes over his face, and she isn't sure if it's for her or her father or both. "For how long?"

"A few months now." Riza sighs. She wants to tell him that he doesn't even need to see her father because he doesn't have any of the secrets, but she refrains. "Come eat. I've made more than I probably should." 

"I couldn't --"

She gives him a look that tells him otherwise, and he closes his eyes and nods as he follows her into her kitchen, back into familiar territory. 

**ii.**

There's an awkward feeling in the air days after her father's death. 

She showed him her back the day after the two person funeral, even though he had told her not to rush giving him the notes but she had insisted, and he hadn't expected them to be on her back. 

Ever since then, the two of them dance around each other. If he's studying her back, she sleeps for most of it, or reads a book while laying on her stomach, and they sit in mostly silence. He hadn't dared to press her on about how the tattoo ended up on her back, or how it had felt. 

Roy can barely look at her without thinking of that array. 

He wakes up one morning and when he wanders into the kitchen, eyes still full of sleep, he finds Riza humming while making their customary cups of coffee. For a moment, he lets himself imagine this is what life would be like for them, had it gone differently, and Riza snaps him back to reality when she turns to look at him, and makes a remark that he slept for a long while. 

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," he claims, rubbing his eyes. 

"Didn't the military teach you how to wake up early?" There's a bit of sarcasm in the question, and it makes him chuckle to himself. 

"I never was a fan of it." Riza turns and hands him a teacup. Roy takes the cup in his hand, taking a sip. "I'll make breakfast to make up for it."

Riza nods, sitting down with her own cup. He starts by taking eggs out of the fridge, cracking them over a pan he's pulled out of the cabinet. A silence falls over them, it's almost stifling and the only sound is the sizzling of the eggs on the pan. Suddenly, he hears the teacup clatter on the saucer, and it causes him to turn around. 

"I did it because I wanted to."

His eyes widen at her confession. It is so out of nowhere, but Riza has always had a sixth sense about a strain between two people - she had to, as her father and her were never close. He doesn't answer, but makes it clear he wants her to go on, so she closes her eyes and sighs. 

"I thought that he might change. He was different when my mother was alive, and then he got obsessed with...well, you know."

Roy nods. He leaves it open for her to continue, and when she doesn't, he starts to speak. "You're remarkable," he remarks, more in awe than anything. It makes her flush, looking away from him, she has never been particularly good at receiving compliments. 

"It didn't hurt that much after a while," she says, twirling the teaspoon she used to stir her sugar in her coffee. "And he took care of me afterwards."

"Did you ever get infections?"

Riza shakes her head. "He made sure I didn't. I'm not sure if it was for my wellbeing or to preserve his studies, though."

His attention goes back to the food in front of him as a tiny film of smoke fills up the kitchen. He hurries to scoop it onto plates, and sets one in front of her. She turns back into herself, and he knows that the tattoo changed her more than she lets on. Roy knows deep down she is stronger, confident, and that her state of melancholy will not be permanent. However, he still hesitates.

"I'm sorry."

She carries a heavy burden. If the wrong person got the chance to examine her tattoo, even for an hour, it could be dangerous. Of course, it is heavily coded. Still, to place so much responsibility on one eighteen year old's shoulders, especially one who only understands the basics of alchemy, is somewhat reckless. 

Riza looks at him, her eyes asked him not to show her pity but at the same time, she welcomes the apology. It almost feels as if a bridge is opening up between them that had once collapsed. "It isn't your fault."

"I know."

"Besides," she gives him a small, sincere smile, and she looks like her old self as she sips from her teacup. "I don't know much about alchemy, but I wouldn't trust anyone else with this."

Roy's pride swells. 

"I promise I won't let you down."

**iii.**

One day while he tries to crack her father's code, Roy asks Riza why she stopped writing. 

Her arms are crossed so she can cradle her head as she lies on her stomach, and she tilts her head to the side slightly, where he's sitting crosslegged on the floor. "I didn't stop. You did."

He looks utterly confused. "I don't know what you mean."

Riza sits up, careful not to lean up too drastically. "You haven't written in months, Roy."

He sets his notebook in his lap, his brow furrowed. "I wrote nearly every day." 

She puts a hand on her cheek, but decides go let the conversation drop. Riza assumes the letters got lost in the mail, and really she isn't one to hold a grudge over something as trivial as letters. 

While going through her father's room, looking for any last possessions (he had insisted that the secret on her back was the only valuable possession he had left), she finds a box underneath his bed. It's a simple looking box, and when Riza opens it she doesn't expect to find what she does. 

Roy is looking over the notes he's taken so far (Riza doesn't understand, but he tells her that Berthold really didn't want anyone to figure out flame alchemy - his code is too complicated) when Riza drops the box on the table. He looks up from his studying at her, she is standing over him and looks distraught. 

"I never wrote," she says, and if he didn't know better he thinks hears her voice crack, "Because I never knew."

Roy stands and peeks into the box, and she doesn't have to tell him for him to know; they were opened on the top by her father's letter opener, not her fingers. "Did he...?"

She nods. "I guess he didn't want me to read them."

As he picks one up, he feels as if their privacy has been invaded - while the letters were standard, he ended each one telling her how much he missed her, even dared saying he loves her in his last one. Those were meant only for her eyes, and now they feel less special. 

"I had always gotten to them before he could," she explains, holding a few in her hands. "Maybe one day he checked the mail before I did, while I was at school." 

The box isn't full, but there are plenty of letters, all of them ripped open and read and Riza wishes she had been able to read them herself first. "Well," Roy starts carefully, "Maybe you should go ahead and read them now."

Riza gives him an apprehensive look before she nods, looking at the letters in her hands. "They must have given you a lot of free time in the Academy to write so many letters...or maybe you just slacked off."

Roy laughs, it's a warm and clear sound and part of Riza wants to drown in it as she smiles. "I _had_ to make time to write to you, you know." 

He sounds so sincere that, despite herself, Riza flushes. 

"You better not have slacked off for me."

"I didn't. I knew you would find out somehow."

Riza laughs, and it feels like it did when they were younger, idealistic and in love, believing nothing could touch them. 

**iv.**

Roy makes frequent runs to town with her, picking up their old habit, and claims this time that he goes with her to take a break from studying. He is catching onto her father's research faster than she had ever imagined - in Riza's eyes, he deserves a break every now and then. 

The shopkeepers who have done the same job every day, who have only ever lived in their small little town remember him. He is not a native, usually they are looked at with disdain but he is ever charming, gaining their trust. They all know Riza, and smile at her knowingly, while Roy isn't looking. If they get her alone, they ask if the two of them have been engaged yet, to which Riza vehemently says no, and they have no intentions to. 

Riza had missed him though. He hadn't changed a bit since he had left - after they had broken the ice again, they return to their own, personal sense of normalcy. He helps her carry her groceries home, they try to make up for lost time by talking and joking back and forth while he writes down notes from her back. She can do fine on her own, is self sufficient, but Riza enjoys having Roy home again.

Roy leaves each morning to go running. He told her one night after dinner as a joke he doesn't want his physique to deteriorate while staying with her, that she'll fatten him up with all the good food she cooks. It makes her flush, it sounds all too domestic. Sometimes he'll come home with goods from town, or nothing at all.

She is reading on the chaise lounge they use for her to lie on while he studies when he comes home from one of his daily runs. Riza says a hello to him, and he lingers in the doorway. She looks up from her book to him, and he has a sheen of sweat over him, he is out of breath and he's holding a bouquet in one of his hands. 

Riza closes her book slowly, standing all while keeping an eye on him. "Roy, what --"

"I thought I should give something back," he explains, and he sounds like he did as a teenager, nervous and heart pounding. "For you letting me stay here the past month."

She gives him another apprehensive look before stepping forward and taking the bouquet from him. It is made of red tulips and daisies, they're freshly cut and she knows he picked them out carefully. She takes a petal between her fingers and rubs, taking in the scent of the flowers as she looks down. "You didn't have to do this, you know."

"I wanted to."

Riza looks up at him, almost immediately. Something warm forms in her chest, something familiar from all those years ago. She is surprised, and somewhat terrified, because she realizes the feelings never really went away - she had simply suppressed them. 

After a moment, Riza realizes how close the two of them have gotten; and, instead of how it was the first time, Roy leans in to kiss her. 

He has changed since they last kissed - she assumes he's had practice since then, because his kiss is insistent but gentle, he controls himself. His hand moves up to cup her cheek, and she presses the kiss further. Riza sighs contently, her lips parting slightly as he lets go. 

She lets her lips tick up into a smile against his. "You should've tried to impress me when you weren't a sweaty mess."

Roy smiles too, his face flushed. "It was sort of last minute."

Riza gives him another, wider smile, before throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips on his again, kissing him without abandon. 

**v.**

Riza is the one who finally, after years of dancing around the topic between the two of them, initiates sex for the first time. Roy asserts that they don’t have to do this if she doesn’t want to, that she shouldn’t feel compelled to. But Riza knows him better than most, and she knows just from the look in his eyes alone that he wants her as much as she wants him. When she starts to undo his belt, he doesn’t complain. 

Of course, she had done it before with one or two different people - it had never meant anything, she had done it just to get a feel for it, and it went as well as two clumsy, fumbling teenagers could make it go. She wasn’t planning on waiting for Roy. She wanted to get on with life, get her first time over with so she could be somewhat experienced when she first made love to the one person who mattered. 

Roy is different from the others. She isn’t sure if it’s because country and city boys are vastly different, but even with their stumbling at first, it is still more enjoyable than any other time. Riza assumed he had been with other women while at the academy, that his plethora of experience would be greater than hers. 

He touches her in a way that makes her fluster, makes her words stutter as she moans. He is gentle with her, careful not to grip her hips too hard or press his fingers into her thighs too tightly. Roy is happy to eat her out like a starving man for minutes at a time, no one else ever took the time to do this for her and at first it makes her nervous as his head sinks lower, but she made a keening noise as he dragged his tongue over her cunt.

He makes sure to go slow. He doesn’t want to hurt Riza, and it isn’t out of manly pride - his sisters had told him, instead of a proper talk, to let the woman make the move so he knows whether or not to continue. Riza is eager to become familiar with him, she is accustomed to his lips and hands from their heavier make out sessions as reckless teenagers, but the rest is foreign to her. 

Riza knows her body has changed. She isn’t a straight, thin girl anymore. She is eighteen and has developed curves, her chest grew in correspondence with her hips. She shivers when he runs his hands over her sides, his lips running over the arch of her hip. He has grown, too - she is still taken by the muscles he’s gained due to bootcamp, his arms strong and sure as they hold her while they drift to sleep. He is broader, and Riza wraps her arms around his as she moans and he hovers over her, kissing her. He is tender, savoring each moment between them, kissing the column of her neck softly but at the same time roughly as her nails drag down his muscled back. 

They will take breaks between studying where they kiss on the lounge, and it always turns into heavy touching, Riza gasping as he slips down and begins his routine between her legs, at home with his head flanked by her thighs. Other times, they sink into bed together, unwinding from their day with her sitting in Roy’s lap, grinding her hips into his own with the intention of making him groan. 

After one night together, Riza lies down on her stomach, burying her face into the pillow. Shortly after, her back tickles, and she smiles into the pillow realizing it’s Roy’s fingers. She turns her head slightly, letting out a soft sigh as she settles deeper into the bed. “It’s a little late to be studying, don’t you think?”

Roy chuckles, and she feels his fingers start to trace the outline of her tattoo along her spine. It makes her shiver. “No, it’s not that. I…”

He stops himself, and Riza knows where he is going, but he doesn’t want to say it. Saying it would mean that, when he inevitably leaves, they will have to deal with their heartbreak all over again. Roy doesn’t want her to cry over him - he truly believes he isn’t deserving of such tears, that he isn’t an extraordinary man. But they both know how they feel about each other, and it doesn’t need to be said to be known.

“I know.”

She opens her eyes, and her hand reaches out to cup his cheek. His fingers stop on her back and her own thumb moves down, over his bottom lip to his chin. She leans in to kiss him, and he responds immediately, sleepily, and his lips part when she coaxes her tongue between. After a moment, she breaks away, and he nudges her onto her side, closer to him where he drapes an arm over her waist. The covers stop at the small of her back, her hair is unruly and she is beautiful, even more so than when they had met all those years ago.

When she yawns, he pulls her closer into his chest and chastely kisses the top of her head before letting her drift off to sleep.

**vi.**

Roy figures out flame alchemy at three in the morning, while Riza is asleep. He hadn’t come to dinner or bed because he thought he was on the verge of some big breakthrough. Instead, he sits cross-legged on the floor, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he jots different ideas and thoughts down. 

He shows her the next morning. He tells her humbly that he isn’t completely sure if it’s correct, but he has a hunch that it is. Riza rubs the sleep out of her eyes, her arms crossed to warm her against the breeze. She watches from afar as he traces a circle into the ground, he kneels and presses his hands on the grass as he makes a small fire out of nothing. 

Roy glance back at her with a smile on his face, shocked and giddy all at once. She wears a look of surprise on her face as well, but doesn’t smile. Instead, her heart drops into her stomach. 

He learns it just in time for his exam, two weeks before he has to leave. He toys with the fire, and because he isn’t a pro yet Riza has to wrap up the burns on his hands. She listens as he babbles to her about the alchemy, and she listens even though she doesn’t understand a word he’s saying. She stays silent, trying not to let him know how she’s trying to ignore the fact that he’ll soon leave her again. 

It’s unusually cold outside when he leaves. She had helped him pack his bags the night before, spent as much time with each other until sleep took over. Now they stand outside the front of the house, and they had decided that this time, Riza won’t accompany him to the train station - she knows that if she did, she probably wouldn’t resist getting on, leaving with him because she knows she has nothing here left for her. 

She wraps his cream-colored scarf around his neck, a present from her from a holiday a few years before. He stays silent and lets her button up his coat, hiding his uniform as he does and tucking the scarf in. She moves slowly, delaying his departure as long as possible, and he gives her a solemn look, but doesn’t say anything. “Are you sure you’ll be okay here alone?”

Riza nods, pats his chest once with some finality. “I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry about me.”

He gives her another look but lets the question drop as she bends down to hand him his suitcase. “Good luck,” she says, there’s a closed smile on her face but it’s a melancholy one. 

“Riza…”

“I mean it,” she tells him, and her other hand moves up to his chest. She smiles with her whole face, he knows she’s genuine and he wants to melt. “We both knew it wouldn’t last for long. That’s what made it so special.”

Riza is laying out the truth for him. She is a stronger person than he is, she is able to admit what they both knew all along and he sighs, nodding. 

“I’ll miss you.”

“We’ll see each other again.” Riza sounds so certain that it makes him feel the same way. He wants to see her again. He wants to wake up in her bed again, eat her cooking, hold her close during their downtime. There’s no reason they can’t, yet every reason they shouldn’t. He doesn’t want to burden her with being married to a soldier, and she doesn’t want to marry him when she is so young. “Do you want to be late for your train?”

Her words snap Roy back to reality, out of his daze. “Right. Don’t stay up worrying about me, okay?”

“Do you really think I would?”

He laughs. “I should know better.”

Riza crosses her arms. “You’ll do great things, Roy.”

Her words make his heart swell. If he has no one else’s approval, he at least has it from the one he loves most. “I promise you I will. Besides - you’ll find some way to scold me if I don’t.”

It’s Riza turn to laugh, and Roy commits the sound to memory before he leaves for the long road ahead of him. “You need to go.”

“One more thing.”

“And what’s that?”

He turns his head slightly. “A goodbye kiss.”

Riza rolls her eyes, but reaches up to turn his head back over. “I thought we’d gotten past pecks on the cheek.”

He shrugs, and she sighs as she leans up to kiss him on the lips, relishing in the moment. She doesn’t know the next time she can do this, or if she ever will again, so she savors it while she can, his lips pressing against hers. Roy’s hands find their usual place on her hips, and he tilts his head so she can deepen the kiss. Soon, though, she lets go, and he exhales when she does.

“Roy,” she starts, and he holds his breath when he hears her voice crack. “You need to go.”

He nods. He bends down to pick up his suitcase that she had set down next to his leg and resists the urge to kiss her forehead. “I’ll see you soon,” he tells her. Riza gives him a tight smile, her hands dropping to her sides. 

Roy has to force himself to turn around, his back to her. He swallows and makes himself start down the road, letting the cool wind blow at his face. 

Riza watches from the driveway. Her bangs blow back with the breeze in the air, and she closes her eyes tightly before turning around herself, walking back into the house that is somehow suddenly empty, barren, and quiet once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i tried to make this like the same style as the first chapter but I gave up. All mistakes are mine. I hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
